Care for a spar?

"Good morning, Mr. Natsuki."

In a room with a flat sparring ring at its center, Marshal Stacker stood to one side in a black suit and overcoat. He greeted Natsuki as he came in through the passageway.

Every room in Shatterdome Base had traces of rust on its steel surfaces, and the overall lighting was dim.

"Morning, Marshal." Dressed in a floral shirt, Natsuki nodded to him, then walked past the ring with Mako Mori to join him.

Across from them stood five Jaeger pilots about to take part in the selection, along with other pilots who had come to watch.

Among them were Cherno Alpha's pilots, [Sasha Kaidonovsky] and [Aleksey Kaidonovsky], a Russian couple with an imposing husband and a sharp, spirited wife.

Aleksey Kaidonovsky (left), Sasha Kaidonovsky (right)

There were also Crimson Typhoon's pilots, [Tang Wei Hu], [Tang Wei Long], and [Tang Wei Xiang], the three Tang brothers with their neatly trimmed crew cuts.

The selection had yet to officially begin. Raleigh stood among them, exchanging greetings.

"I heard about what happened in the mess hall."

"Please allow me to apologize on Chuck's behalf." Marshal Stacker looked at Natsuki, his tone conflicted. "He's not a bad kid at heart. He just has a lot to learn about dealing with people."

He knew about most of what happened in the base, and he understood the soldiers under his command very well.

"I understand." Natsuki nodded.

"He's just a kid going through his rebellious phase. I didn't take it to heart."

Only after hearing this did Marshal Stacker's worries subside.

He had worried that Chuck's behavior might affect his cooperation with Natsuki. Fortunately, just as their previous interactions had suggested, Mr. Natsuki was not a temperamental man. He could even be called kind.

While the two spoke, the selection for Raleigh's partner began.

The selection involved having the five candidates take turns sparring with Raleigh using staffs.

This test made it easy to gauge how well the two were in tune with each other. The better their rapport, the harder it was for either to break through the other's moves.

Moreover, only people of similar ability could become partners. If the gap between them was too large, a pilot would subconsciously regard the other as unequal, causing their synchronization rate to drop considerably.

"Both sides, get ready." Seeing that Raleigh and his opponent had both picked up their staffs, Mako Mori spoke as the referee.

"Begin!"

At her command, the match began.

The muscles beneath Raleigh's T-shirt instantly tightened, and his gaze sharpened. Shifting his footwork, he charged at the crew-cut young man opposite him, who also held a staff.

His attacks were ferocious, his moves unpredictable.

The sharp clacking of staffs immediately rang out across the ring.

As they fought, Natsuki watched their movements.

He could tell that Raleigh had a solid foundation.

"But isn't his fighting style a little too haphazard?" Natsuki asked Marshal Stacker.

Raleigh clearly had some training, but Natsuki couldn't quite make sense of his moves. He certainly had plenty of aggression, though.

If he had to sum it up in one word, it would be reckless.

"That's his fighting style." Before Marshal Stacker could answer, Mako Mori spoke, her attention fixed entirely on Raleigh. "Unpredictable street fighting."

It was clear that Mako Mori had done a great deal of research on Raleigh.

"You know him pretty well?" Natsuki teased, the corners of his mouth lifting.

"Of course." Mako Mori nodded immediately.

"To find a partner who can match him perfectly, I went through every one of his mission records in detail and took notes on everything about him."

"Wow." The amusement in Natsuki's eyes deepened. He looked just like an old man gossiping at the village entrance. "If it was only for work, surely you wouldn't need to know quite that much?"

Mako Mori froze at his words.

Raleigh had already knocked his opponent down. She came back to her senses and hurriedly called the next candidate into the ring.

After calling for the match to begin, she turned back to him.

Only then did she look at Natsuki and say, "It is necessary."

"Choosing a partner is something that has to be handled carefully."

"So... you picked out these 'partners' for him, even though they have almost no chance of being chosen?" Natsuki looked toward the ring. Seeing that the second candidate couldn't hold out against Raleigh's attacks either, he glanced at the remaining candidates, not believing Mako Mori's explanation at all.

Natsuki wasn't making things up. It was obvious who had the best rapport with Raleigh.

These five candidates genuinely weren't in tune with him enough.

"I..." Mako Mori wanted to explain, but she seemed to have something she couldn't bring herself to say.

At that moment, Marshal Stacker spoke.

"I was the one who finalized the candidate list."

"She isn't on it," he said gravely.

Natsuki glanced at Marshal Stacker, then at Mako Mori, and finally at Raleigh, who had once again defeated his opponent in the ring.

Puzzled, he asked, "You should know who has the best rapport with Raleigh too, shouldn't you?"

He didn't believe Marshal Stacker couldn't see it.

"Is she your daughter?" Natsuki asked bluntly.

The most likely reason for keeping Mako Mori out of the selection was that Marshal Stacker couldn't bear to send her into battle. Taking their age difference into account, that seemed the most probable conclusion.

Marshal Stacker didn't answer immediately. Instead, he nodded silently.

Then he sighed and said, "My adopted daughter."

"She isn't ready for the battlefield yet."

As the two spoke, the matches continued.

Raleigh defeated his third opponent.

Now he stood in the ring, leaning on his staff and looking over at them.

"Hey!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Doesn't anyone think there's something wrong with this selection?"

Raleigh couldn't hear their conversation, but he wasn't blind. He called out to Mako Mori, who was acting as referee.

"How about we skip straight past this part?" He raised his staff and pointed it at Mako Mori. "Come try it with me."

He had known how well they were in tune with each other from their very first meeting.

He had originally thought there might be some skilled fighters in this selection, but after a few rounds, he was certain that only one person in this base could be his partner.

The higher the synchronization rate between two Jaeger pilots, the more power their Jaeger could unleash. He had no reason to leave the pilot best suited to him on the sidelines.

After all, piloting a Jaeger against a monster meant putting their lives on the line.

At Raleigh's words, Mako Mori's eyes lit up. She immediately turned toward Marshal Stacker, her gaze full of hope.

She seemed to be saying, Let me do it. Let me do it...

Marshal Stacker had the final say. Her name had originally been on the candidate list too, but he had crossed it out later.

With the moment already building toward this, Mako Mori decisively chose to rebel for once.

Marshal Stacker hesitated too.

The reason he wouldn't let his daughter enter a Jaeger was her emotional trauma. He feared it would affect her performance in battle, not anything else.

"All right."

"If you don't want to fight, forget it."

"Xia, how about you come spar with me?" When no answer came, Raleigh shifted his attention to Natsuki instead, grinning as he spoke.

He really wanted to see how good Natsuki was in a fight.